Estimated reading time: 8-10 minutes
Spring has a way of sneaking up on you. One minute it’s still jumper weather, the next you’re looking at a long weekend on the calendar and realising you haven’t opened the caravan door in a little while.
If that sounds familiar, you’re in good company. Every September, we see the same pattern at our Rockingham workshop: a quiet trickle of bookings in the first couple of weeks, then a rush in the final one as everyone comes to the same conclusion, that summer travel season is closer than it looks. We’d rather help you avoid the rush altogether, so here’s the checklist we run through with customers who come in for a pre spring service.
Contents
- Start with the Tyres and Wheels
- Checking the battery and electrics
- Inspect the seals and roof
- Test the gas and appliances
- Give the water system a good flush
- Check the weight
- Book it in properly
- Why spring specifically matters in WA
- What we check that most owners don’t think to
- How long it takes
Start with the Tyres and Wheels
Tyres are the sometimes simply looked over even though it’s one of the most important things to check.
A caravan that’s been sitting for a few months can develop flat spots, dry bearings and UV exposure over a WA summer does tyres no favours even when they’re not moving.
Check the tread depth, look for cracking on the sidewalls, greasing the bearings and checking the brakes are some of the big ones that we check at our workshop in Rockingham.
Tyre pressure should be set to the manufacturer’s loaded figure, not just whatever feels right, since an underinflated tyre is one of the more common causes of blowouts on long hauls. It’s also important you don’t forget the spare.
Checking the battery and electrics
If your caravan has been sitting around unused over winter, the battery has probably taken a hit even if you’ve got solar and especially if you’ve covered it.
A deep-cycle battery that’s been left flat for weeks can lose capacity permanently, so this is worth checking well before you need it rather than the night before a trip.
While you’re at it, run through the lights, indicators, brake lights connected to the tow vehicle and other critical systems you may have. It’s a five-minute job that saves you from finding out the hard way at a servo three hours from home.
Another thing is to test your breakers to make sure they do their job. If you run into some issues feel free to give us a call or bring your caravan in and we’ll be more than happy to give you a hand.
Inspect the seals and roof
Seals are one of the easiest things to forget and Perth’s weather might be kinder than most of the country, but roof seals and window seals still degrade over time, and a small gap you can’t see from the ground is exactly the kind of thing that turns into a leak on your next big trip.
If it’s been more than twelve months since your seals were last checked, it’s worth having a look, or letting our team take a look for you.
Theres nothing worse than finding out you’ve got water damage in your caravan or even
worse mould in the walls.
Test the gas and appliances
Fridges, hot water systems, and gas cooktops that haven’t been used in months don’t always fire up cleanly on the first try. Test everything at home, in daylight, before you’re relying on it at the campsite.
If something’s not working the way it should, better to know now than when you’re out at your campsite after driving the day to find out you won’t be having hot water or cooking anything on the stove.
Keep in mind gas systems Arnt something that you can simply play with to fix a problem and often require professional work.
Give the water system a good flush
Stagnant water sitting in tanks and lines over winter isn’t something you want running through your taps on day one of a trip.
A full flush of the freshwater tank and lines is a simple job that makes a real difference to water quality once you’re back on the road.
There are many ways to go about it but heres a short list of ways you’ll get it done:
Flush with Baking Soda
Baking soda removes bad tastes and smells from your tank.
Mix: Dissolve 1/2 cup of baking soda in 5 liters of warm water. Pour the mixture into your empty fresh water tank. Fill the rest of the tank with clean water.
Run: Turn on every tap in your caravan until you smell or notice the mixture coming through. Let it sit for overnight or at least 12 hours.
Rinse: Drain the entire tank completely. Fill it with fresh water and run all the taps again to wash it out.
Sanitize with White Vinegar
White vinegar kills mild bacteria and clears out mineral buildup.
Mix: Pour 4 liters of white vinegar into an empty water tank, then top it up completely with fresh water.
Run: Open all hot and cold taps until you smell vinegar. Close the taps and let the liquid sit in the system for 4 hours.
Rinse: Drain the tank fully. Fill it with clean water, flush all the taps, and drain again until the vinegar smell is gone.
Deep Clean with Food-Grade Hydrogen Peroxide or Chlorine Dioxide
| Steps | Chlorine Dioxide Process | Hydrogen Peroxide Process |
| Prep | Drain tank. Remove/bypass carbon filters. | Drain tank. Remove filters. |
| Mix | Mix Part A + B in a bucket (wait 10 mins) Fill OR drop tablets in water. | Measure concentrated liquid (wear gloves if using 35%). |
| Fill | Pour mixture into tank, then fill the tank with fresh water. | Add peroxide directly to the tank while filling with fresh water. |
| Prime | Run all taps until you smell the faint, distinct chemical scent. | Run all taps until lines are full of the treated water. |
| Wait | Leave for 1 to 4 hours. | Leave for 12 to 24 hours. |
| Flush | Drain completely. Refill and flush lines once or twice with fresh water. | Drain completely. Refill and flush lines once or twice with fresh water. |
Check the weight
This one gets overlooked constantly. Back in the day saying “shell be right” was a common thing but safe driving should be a top priority and now days the fines a fit to make your trip ridiculously expensive and in worse case standing on the side of the road trying to figure out what to do next. If you’ve added anything to your setup over the off-season, extra gear, a new awning, additional water capacity, it’s worth reweighing to make sure you’re still within your GVM and tow ball weight limits. Overloading isn’t just a compliance issue, it genuinely affects how your rig handles and brakes.
Book it in properly
A full pre-spring service covers all the above and more, done by people who do this every day rather than once a year. Bookings for caravan servicing in Perth tend to fill up fast once spring properly kicks in, so getting in early means you’re not competing with everyone else’s last-minute panic in October.
Why spring specifically matters in WA
Perth’s climate makes this checklist different to what you’d run through somewhere colder. We don’t get the extreme freeze-thaw cycles that cause issues elsewhere, but we make up for it with intense UV exposure and long stretches of heat that are hard on rubber seals, tyre sidewalls, and anything plastic sitting exposed on the roof. A caravan that’s spent winter parked in direct sun has usually taken more of a beating than its owner realises, mostly because nothing looked obviously wrong at a glance and “hey it looks the same as i left it last time”. Spring is the natural checkpoint before that damage turns into an
on-the-road problem, which is exactly why we see the seasonal rush every year.
What we check that most owners don’t think to
Beyond the items above, our workshop team also runs through a few things that don’t always make the average owner’s mental checklist such as:
- The condition of the coupling and safety chains.
- The operation of the electric brakes if your van has them.
- The wheel bearings, and the condition of the annual service items tucked away that you’d only notice if something had already started going wrong.
None of this is about upselling you on unnecessary work, it’s about catching the quiet stuff before it becomes the loud, expensive stuff on day two of your trip and it extends the value of your caravan in the long run.
How long it takes
One of the more common questions we get is how long a proper pre-spring service takes. For most caravans, a full check covering everything above is a same-day job, and we’re happy to talk you through what we found once it’s done rather than just handing back a caravan and an invoice.If something more involved turns up, we’ll always call you first and talk through the options before doing any extra work, no surprises on the bill.
We’re not saying any of this to scare you off a spring trip, quite the opposite. A caravan that’s properly checked over is one you can relax in, instead of quietly wondering in the back of your mind whether everything’s going to hold up. That peace of mind is worth the day’s work it takes to run through this list, or the short drop-in visit it takes to have our team do it for you.
Final Thoughts
If you’d rather leave the checklist to us, our Rockingham workshop is booking in pre-spring services now.
Drop by our Rockingham showroom or call us on 08 9752 2424, to lock in a time before the calendar fills up.
